Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Francisco de Goya

  • Mental illness in art

    JMS PearceHull, England It is often said that creative art is linked to eccentricity, sometimes bordering on madness. Examples abound of great musicians, writers, and artists who at some time in their lives were deranged and often committed to institutions for mental illness. Some ended their lives in suicide. To what extent is art inspired…

  • El garrotillo: On diphtheria and Goya

    Vicent RodillaValencia, Spain Diphtheria is a bacterial infectious disease caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae that affects mostly children. Although by 2017 some 85% of infants worldwide have been vaccinated for DTP (diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis), some 19.9 million children remain unvaccinated.1 According to the World Health Organization, reported cases of diphtheria have decreased from nearly 100,000 in 1980 to…

  • Los Caprichos

    This is engraving number 40 from the Los Caprichos series by Francisco de Goya, published in 1799 and showing a donkey as a doctor attending a dying man in his bed. The doctor wears a watch to count the patient’s pulse but not a stethoscope because this had not yet been invented. It suggests that the…

  • Francisco de Goya: a portrait of illness

    Trang Ngoc Diem VuRochester, Minnesota, United States Francisco de Goya’s Self-Portrait with Dr. Arrieta is a Romantic painting illustrating one of Goya’s most severe bouts of illness. The inscription beneath the scene reads, “Goya, thankful to his friend Arrieta: for the skill and care with which he saved his life during his short and dangerous…